Leamington man jailed for drunken glass attack which could have blinded victim

A photographer could have lost his sight when a drunken man smashed a wine glass into his face, leaving him with permanent scars around his right eye.

Victim Paul Stringer’s attacker Ethan Cronin was jailed for 21 months after pleading guilty at Warwick Crown Court to wounding him during the incident in a Stratford night club.

Judge Andrew Lockhart QC also ordered Cronin, 25, of Regent Street, Leamington, to pay £300 compensation to Mr Stringer after hearing that he had some savings.

Prosecutor Lee Marklew said that in January last year Mr Stringer was with a group of friends in his home town of Stratford to say goodbye to a friend who was going backpacking in Australia.

They were in the Cazbar night club in the town centre when he and one of his friends became unhappy about the way Cronin had spoken about two young women in his group.

There was a confrontation between Mr Stringer and Cronin, who were both the worse for drink, and they both stood up as words were exchanged between them.

During that part of the incident someone saw Cronin, who had a wine glass in his hand, hit out at Mr Stringer and then saw blood all over the victim’s face.

But Mr Marklew pointed out that Cronin had entered his plea on the basis that he had hit out instinctively and had no memory of having a glass in his hand at the time.

Jailing Cronin, Judge Lockhart told him: “You’d been drinking very heavily, and you chose to speak in a lewd way to two girls, in a way you would never have done if you had been sober.

“People who get into the state you did and lose control when otherwise they would not are still responsible for their actions.

“I have considered very carefully whether I can suspend this sentence; but given that this was violence in a public place in front of others in the early hours of the morning and involving a weapon, it has to be immediate.”